Category: Civil Rights

By Rob Campbell 

This Thursday, November 20th, at 9am, at 7650 Mission Valley Road, San Diego, the San Diego Planning Commission will hear agenda item #2. This agenda item concerns what some call the “Radio Towers” of Emerald Hills.

In the historically Black enclave of the neighborhood of Emerald Hills in San Diego, the latest development upheaval lays bare how old injustices don’t die. They merely get repackaged in the language of progress.  What was once a promise of expanding parkland for a neighborhood long denied environmental justice or infrastructure, the last and largest green space is now being transmuted into a windfall for a for-profit multibillion-dollar corporation, with the full complicity of the City of San Diego and its planning apparatus.

The project in question — what locals call the “Radio Towers” — is a parcel on Old Memory Lane, formerly earmarked for new parkland in Emerald Hills, a “destination” park offering sweeping downtown and ocean views.  It is now slated instead to host 130 private homes with a single entrance and exit with an up-zoning at roughly 400% the density allowed in the same zoning white-neighborhood just to the north in La Jolla.

Here’s the brutal arithmetic of injustice:

By Frank Gormlie

I’m happy to share the news that two of the Rag’s current commentators and long-time San Diego journalist have received well-deserved awards of merit from local non-profit organizations.

J.W. August was honored by the San Diego Press Club with a “Best in Show” award for “Best Daily and Online Entry Excellence in Journalism.” August was recognized for his KPBS report on a detective in the Navy Criminal Investigations Division who is now serving time for abusing a federal prisoner in custody.

Paul Krueger was honored by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association with the Chairman’s Golden Watchdog Award for Grassroots Advocacy. Paul is a co-founder of both Neighbors for a Better San Diego and the San Diego Community Coalition.

The San Diego Community Coalition, now in its seventh month, is hitting full stride with a series of “Town Halls with Newsmakers,” a campaign of outreach to underserved communities, and an email bulletin keeping members informed of upcoming City Hall meetings.

David Garrick, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s City Hall Reporter, will be our guest speaker at the Coalition’s second Town Hall forum on Saturday, December 13, from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. at the Logan Heights Library, 567 S. 28 Street. Neighbors for a Better San Diego will co-host the forum, which is titled “This Just In: Covering the City Hall Beat.”

The series began October 25 when District 7 City Councilmember Raul Campillo met with community leaders from across the City. As reported in the Rag, “The unwritten rule at City Hall forums is that elected officials speak at length and on script while their constituents listen … A relaxed Campillo broke that rule and clearly enjoyed the spirited give-and-take.”

As part of its commitment to empowering all San Diego communities to fight predatory development, the Coalition will make informational presentations before south-of-Interstate-8 community planning groups beginning next month.

Thoughts on other revenue sources

By Donna Frye

The City of San Diego has a problem with its budget and is looking for ways to find money to balance it. On Tuesday, November 18 at 2 pm, the city council will be voting on their budget priorities and also considering revenue options.

It is Item-331 on the agenda.

Council President La Cava and Councilmember Elo-Rivera, have proposed charging non-resident entry fees to park at our beaches and bays, such as Mission Bay Park, to help balance the budget.

This is a really bad idea for lots of reasons including:

1. The public doesn’t support paid parking because it limits access to our beaches and bays.

By PBS / Nov. 13, 2025

The Justice Department on Thursday sued to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week, joining a court battle that could help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026.

The complaint filed in California federal court targets the new congressional map pushed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to a similar Republican-led effort in Texas backed by President Donald Trump. It sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political fight between the Republican administration and the Democratic governor, who’s seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender.

“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an emailed statement. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”

California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment changing the congressional boundaries to give Democrats a shot at winning five seats now held by Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

Last week, staff from the city of San Diego’s Parks & Rec department released a framework for long-term parking in Balboa Park, one that proposed charging residents $300 per year to park in the city’s crown jewel. Visitors, whether from Del Mar or Delaware, would have had to pay $375 annually.

On Thursday, though, after pushback from the community, adjusted figures from staffers were announced, with a significantly reduced rate: $150 a month, a number in line with one first proposed by some Balboa Park stakeholders when the city council was considering the plan back in September.

Out-of-towners, however, would now be the ones shelling out $300 a year for unlimited visits to Balboa Park under the new plan. A three-month pass for city residents would drop to $60 from the originally proposed $80, while monthly passes would remain at $30, $40 for visitors. A quarterly pass for visitors would actually swell to $120, up from the first proposal of $100.

by Associated Press – Times of San Diego /  Nov. 13, 2025

More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers went on strike at 65 U.S. stores Thursday to protest a lack of progress in labor negotiations with the company.

Starbucks Workers United said stores in 45 cities would be affected, including San Diego, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Starbucks’ home city of Seattle. There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn’t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.

The strike was intended to disrupt Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing baristas, said Thursday morning that the strike had already closed some stores and was expected to force more to close later in the day.

By Paul Krueger / SDU-T Commentary / November 14, 2025 

An informed public is the basis of good government. But when elected officials deliberately erect barriers to civic engagement, democracy gives way to autocracy.

That is exactly what’s happening in San Diego on the critically important issue of the 30-foot height limit in the Midway/Pacific Highway district.

Last month’s unanimous state appellate court ruling requires the city to complete a comprehensive environmental study of the negative impacts of high-rise, high-density development throughout the 1,300-acre district. The court made it clear that voters were not fully informed when they narrowly approved a ballot measure that waived the 30-foot height limit.

Mayor Todd Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert quickly denounced the ruling. They want to ask the state Supreme Court to override the appellate decision. But any such attempt must be approved by a council majority.

Normally, those decisions are in “closed session” meetings where the council can discuss the status of lawsuits without publicly disclosing information that could benefit opposing parties and potentially harm taxpayers.

Normally, I respect those protections. But our elected officials must never use the closed session process to inhibit the public’s ability to fully participate in an important policy issue.

by Mariana Martínez Barba / Voice of San Diego / November 11, 2025

[Please see original for all the important links]

For years, the San Diego Police Department allowed thousands of sexual assault kits to sit on evidence room shelves. Police leaders decided to investigate cases first and determine whether the kit would be useful evidence later.

As the backlog piled up, a nationwide movement to “test all kits” pressured SDPD to act. In June 2017, the City Council allocated $500,000 to the department to test backlogged kits. Victims’ rights groups and the city attorney also pushed for testing.

By Donna Frye

On November 18, 2025 at 2 pm the San Diego City Council will be having a hearing to discuss their budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.

It is Item-331 on the agenda.

There are many very important issues related to the budget and I am only focusing on one of them right now, which is Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s proposal to charge a non-resident vehicle entry fee to use Mission Bay Park. The proposal includes fees for parking a vehicle, mooring a boat or launching a boat.

This is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to know just where to start.

First, we all know that if this proposal is supported it will only be a matter of time before residents are forced to pay to use Mission Bay Park too. All one needs to do is look at what’s happening at Balboa Park with the proposed parking fees to understand how this works.

by Ernie McCray

I remember my grandfather
always saying to me
“Well, son, I guess that’s too much like right”
when my most logical response to a situation
should have been put into action but was not,
and lately I’ve been saying that to myself a lot
as I look at what’s happening
here and there
around the country,
thinking, particularly,
about what if we bypassed all the rigmarole
with regard to Bad Bunny
headlining the halftime show
at the 60th Super Bowl,
singing in Espanol,
and instead praised him
for how he rose
from work as a bag boy at a grocery store
in Puerto Rico
and became a global music icon

By Danna Givot / Op-Ed SD Union-Tribune / November 12, 2025 

Three years ago, Mayor Todd Gloria unveiled his “Build Better San Diego” initiative, with an ambitious goal of eliminating inequities between our city’s wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods. Build Better San Diego intended to replace crumbling infrastructure and improve public services in our older and long-neglected communities south of Interstate 8.

But our mayor’s pledge now rings hollow. In fact, recent and upcoming community plan updates will only reinforce the cruel reality of “two San Diegos,” not the “one city” he promised. If the mayor and his planning department get their way, our lowest-resourced, infrastructure-deficient neighborhoods will be burdened by extraordinary levels of up-zoning and density, with no funding for desperately needed parks, libraries, and fire and police stations.

The most shocking example of “one city, two realities” is the proposed College Area Community Plan Update